Former President John Dramani Mahama has taken responsibility for the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) defeat in the 2016 elections.

Some dedicated party members have blamed the executives of the NDC for the party’s defeat.

In view of this, a thirteen member committee led by Prof. Kwesi Botchway was tasked to investigate the party’s defeat.

But even before the outcome of the investigation is presented, Mr. Mahama at a meeting with former appointees of government said all grievances should be directed at him because he led the party in the elections.

“Of course as the general who led us into battle, I take ultimate responsibility for our losing the election and so if it will satisfy those people, blame me for the loss.”

He further charged members of the party to take advantage of the Prof. Botchway’s committee to express their grievances instead of the media.

“I’ve been meeting with FEC and the elders; the chairman of the party is now the leader according to our constitution but all of us are members of the party. We’ve served at high level of government and so we have a role to play both as ex-president, ex vice president, as ministers of state and our fortunes are tied in with the party and we are committed members of the party so we must work to make sure that we put the party in a state where we are able to contribute to the progress of this country even in opposition by making sure that we provide the kind of opposition that safeguards the interest of the people.”

He added that:“And that is why we need to rally around together as quickly as possible. We have set up a committee that is supposed to go round and analyze the reason for our loss. People are not taking advantage of the committee; they are going on air and apportioning blame. But I’ve said that the cause of our loss is multifaceted. And we need to do a careful analysis of it, get the report and be able to break down exactly what resulted in our loss. Of course as the general who led us into battle, I take ultimate responsibility for our losing the election and so if it will satisfy those people, blame me for the loss. Yes we lost; we should have done some things better but let’s use this opportunity as a learning opportunity to be able to make sure that we don’t make the same mistakes that we did in 2016.”

Since the NDC’s defeat in the 2016 elections, supporters and some members in leadership, have been debating the cause of the party’s massive defeat.

Some have laid a huge portion of the blame at the feet of the former president and his ministers, while others blamed the national executives.